The Wedding of Jordan Gehrke and Raven Shirley

September 26, 2025

Text: John 4:5-26

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, it is good to be here, to be with you this day as we celebrate the union and marriage of Jordan and Raven.

You know the hymn we just sang isn’t usually sung at weddings — “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing,” at least not at the weddings I’ve officiated. What in the world does the Lamb’s High Feast have to do with weddings anyway?

Certainly, I’ve sung the hymn at Easter or even during the distribution of the Lord’s Supper, which we Lutherans believe to be a foretaste of heaven. This hymn is joyful, maybe a bit too much for a Lutheran wedding. The hymn speaks of Jesus’ victory, of heaven, and of eternity; but if we’re honest, our focus at the moment is on today, on the union of this man and this woman.

But that’s also precisely why the hymn makes perfect sense. It leads our hearts, voices, and eyes to look beyond today and to one of the great purposes and blessings of marriage.

Eternity.

You’ll have to forgive me, but the Church Father St. John Chrysostom, who died in the 5th Century, offers a quote about marriage and the purpose of its journey. It’s worth hearing it in its entirety. He writes,

Some say that marriage was ordained by God as a blessing to the human race. Others say that marriage is a necessary evil for those who cannot restrain their sexual appetites. In truth it is impossible to speak in such ways about marriage in general; we can only make judgments about particular marriages. There are some marriages which bring great blessings to the husband and the wife, to their children, and to all their neighbors. But there are other marriages which seem to bring few blessings to anyone. The difference between these two types of marriages lies in the spirit with which the bond was forged and is maintained. If a man and a woman marry to satisfy their sexual appetites, or to further the material aims of themselves or their families, then their union is unlikely to bring blessings. But if a man and a woman marry in order to be companions on the journey through earth to heaven, then their union will bring great joy to themselves and to others.

With this lens, Chrysostom saw marriage as a gift for man and woman to forge and maintain, to journey and be led through this valley of life on earth to the eternal joys of heaven, to the Lamb’s High Feast, and this changes the meaning of today, doesn’t it?

This should also alter how you, Jordan and Raven, walk out of this church today.

It should change how you celebrate the joys of life, whether it be the anniversaries of this marriage, or the birth of the children you desire…

It should affect how you engage the unknowns of life, where will employment come from in the often-turbulent field of politics…

It should influence how you encounter the disagreements that will arise and threaten to divide you…(Hawkeyes or Wolverines)

It should transform how you will approach sickness and health…

It should adjust how you approach the mundane things in life, such as doing laundry, cooking dinner, or even fulfilling the smallest requests, like bringing one another a glass of water as one of you sits wearied from the work of your day. 

For this reason, the path you set out on today will be wonderful, but it will also be a grueling and exhausting journey.

And this brings us to our Second reading from St. John; Jesus has been journeying and traveling through Samaria to Galilee, when He stops to take a break. Our reading said Jesus was “wearied,” so He stopped at Jacob’s Well for a drink of water.

The reality that Jesus was wearied and exhausted should not go unnoticed either; while subtle, it reveals how your Lord was not only God but also man. He understands the humanity of your life.

But this is where things get interesting. As Jesus sits and rests His feet, a Samaritan woman arrives to draw water from the well. Since he has nothing to draw water with, Jesus asks her to give Him a drink, but she rebuffs Him.

Now, first consider this: Samaritans and Jews do not get along; there is a deep hostility between them.

Secondly, she is also a woman, and at this time, there is a degrading view of women.

But none of this stops Jesus from engaging the Samaritan woman. In fact, Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)

The woman, of course, responded and pointed to this well’s history, asking, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” (John 4:12)

And what does Jesus say to this? He says,

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14)

It seems that not all water is the same after all. The water in the well is meant to quench a momentary thirst; however, the water Jesus desires to give will lead and guide a person along a path, to a place, to eternal life. 

So now the Samaritan woman wants to drink this water.

However, Jesus tells her to go, get her husband, too, and bring him to the well so he may also drink.

But she responds, “I have no husband.” (John 4:17)

And this is a bit awkward to say the least, because Jesus says to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.” (John 4:17-18)

This whole conversation is jarring, right? As an observer, you just want to back away and get out of here.

But step back for a minute and ponder this exchange with me.

The woman is in a hurry to receive this gift of water that promises eternal life, but she is also quick to conceal her guilt and sin.

She is all of us and every marriage. In a hurry to receive, but quick to conceal.

And for this reason, we should join her in asking, “Where am I to go and worship? Where will God make known His grace to sinful people as me?” (John 4:20)

Listen to Jesus as He says, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23)

The hour, which is Christ’s death and crucifixion. The hour that calls all Christians to His cross. The hour when the Bridegroom redeems His bride, you.

From now on, your marriage is to be an icon and image of the sacrificial love of Christ for His Church.

A long and exhausting journey, just as it was for Jesus, accompanied by the crosses of life.

But this is a path the two of you now take, together, as one, in Christ.

Taking to heart these words, you will soon hear, “What God has joined together, let man not put asunder.”

Meaning, let man not separate.

And so remember that just as Christ will unite you today in marriage, He also united you to Himself as His dear children in the waters of Holy Baptism – a gift of grace and mercy for poor sinners and Samaritans.

Now, I love that this church has a font at the back of the sanctuary, with running water—no less, I mean living water. Because the font is where your life in Christ began, and it’s the living water that continues to flow and lead you throughout this life to the altar where the Lamb comes to feed you a foretaste of His heavenly banquet that awaits us all. 

But now, the two of you will walk this Baptismal path and life from the font to the eternal and heavenly feast together, and in this way, as Chrysostom said earlier, your marriage is to be forged and maintained in the gift of God’s grace.

It’s a life that puts away the carnal and material distractions of this world; it’s the way of confessing your sin to each other and forgiving one another; it’s the continual journey to the cross of Christ.

And for this journey, Christ Jesus has made you companions to be a blessing to one another, for the children you desire, and for all your neighbors. But most of all, for the mutual and great joy of being led together to the Lamb’s wonderful and glorious High Feast. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness